settler colonial

adjective

variants or settler-colonial
1
: of, relating to, or characteristic of a settler colony or settler colonialism
Pueblo communities have been subject to centuries of settler colonial rule …Danielle Dominique Lucero
Examining the ongoing consequences of colonialism for Indigenous peoples in Taiwan … is necessary to address the island's settler-colonial history and better understand contemporary articulations of power, society, and culture …Minna Hsu et al.
2
: possessing or composed of settler colonies : engaging in or colonized through settler colonialism
… transformational theories of love that oppose ongoing exploitation of Indigenous bodies, lands and resources by settler colonial powers.Lindsay Lachance
She then acknowledged the U.S. is a settler colonial nation built on Indigenous land.Christina Avery

Examples of settler colonial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The archipelago of colonial ports linked two distinct zones of the emerging world economy: the rapidly expanding settler colonial countries of the Americas, Southern Africa, and Australia, and the overseas colonies and informal spheres of influence of the European and U.S. empires. Michael Denning, Foreign Affairs, 21 Aug. 2015

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of settler colonial was in 1965

Dictionary Entries Near settler colonial

Cite this Entry

“Settler colonial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/settler%20colonial. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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